November 8, 2016

Pua calls for re-audit of 1MDB accounts

New auditors need to be appointed to re-examine 1MDB accounts as Deloitte Malaysia has said its work should no longer be relied on, said DAP MP Tony Pua.

This, he said, would assist in uncovering the truth behind allegations surrounding the state-owned firm.

Failure to re-audit the firm’s accounts for the financial year ending March 2013 would prove there are efforts to cover up its mismanagement, Pua added.

“It only confirms what all Malaysians today suspect to be true, that Prime Minister Najib Razak and the BN government are adamant in covering up the single largest act of corruption, misappropriation and abuse of power in the history of Malaysia,” the Petaling Jaya Utara MP said at a press conference at the Parliament lobby here today.

Deloitte had issued a statement in July saying that the audit it conducted on 1MDB in 2013 and 2014 should no longer be relied upon.

This came following the civil forfeiture suit filed by the United States’ Department of Justice (DoJ), claiming that more than US$3.5 billion was embezzled from 1MDB.

According to Pua, who is a member of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that was in charge of probing 1MDB, he had on Oct 18 asked Najib to re-audit the accounts.

However, the finance ministry headed by Najib responded by saying the accounts audited were “true and transparent” according to the goings-on in 1MDB at the time.

In response to this, Pua said what the firm’s board of directors believed was irrelevant as it didn’t change the fact that the auditors themselves had deemed the audit unreliable.

Deloitte had also resigned as 1MDB’s auditor earlier this year. No replacement has been named as yet.

1MDB had changed auditors twice prior to Deloitte.

KPMG audited 1MDB’s books from 2010 to 2012 before having its services terminated in December 2013.

1MDB’s first auditor, Ernst & Young, was fired in 2010 for raising questions on investments, according to the Wall Street Journal.